“President Trump is attempting to drag his Supreme Court nomination of D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh across the finish line amid a sudden storm of sexual-assault allegations. In addition, reports out early Monday indicate that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will either be sacked or resign amid a row with the president. “U.S. messaging during [the General Assembly] will be upended if Rosenstein is gone,” Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against a Nuclear Iran, warned Monday . “It was already on shaky ground given [the Kavanaugh] confirmation. Talk in New York will shift to disarray in Washington rather than foreign policy priorities.” The rumors swirling in Washington about Rosenstein’s departure, however, proved to be groundless.

But first on the mind of those here early in New York—namely members of the National Council for the Resistance of Iran (NCRI), closely associated with the controversial MEK—is an administration and president primed for persuasion, after years of frosty reception in Washington to idea of regime change in Tehran. That Giuliani and Bolton, essentially members of the outfit, are positioned in the administration’s inner circle is a clear opportunity that might not come again.

On paper, Iran promises to dominate the week here: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani will give a hotly-anticipated address to the General Assembly Tuesday and President Trump will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting on the rogue country Wednesday.

In fact, there is some concern in the U.S. conservative foreign-policy establishment that the week could be too focused on Iran. “Expect Trump to slam Iran, but beware [a North Korean] Trojan Horse,” the Heritage Foundation said Monday, wary of the administration’s arguably lenient arrangement with Pyongyang.”

"This past weekend Melania Trump’s spokeswoman penned an op-ed for CNN in which she criticized the media’s unrelenting criticism of the first lady... Is it true that the media have a fixation on the first lady’s fashion sense?"

"For more than a decade, ultrarich people from the former Soviet Union, China and the Middle East have turned to London mansions, New York high-rises, and chic properties in Vancouver, Miami and Paris to store their cash."

"...either our youth walk out on Judaism or maintain a lukewarm relationship with Jewish observance; or, they become so obsessed by its finest points that they are incapable of seeing the forest from the trees."